‘Do long-term contracts need to be construed in a particular way? Do contracts that require the parties to work together and cooperate over a period of many years have their own special rules? Do they demand special treatment when it comes to questions of contractual interpretation? Those are some of the questions raised by the judgment in Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd v Birmingham City Council, in which the Court of Appeal had to grapple with the complexities and oddities of a PFI contract.’

‘Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust v Evans, James and Alfie Evans (a child by his guardian Cafcass Legal) [2018] EWHC 308 (Fam). This was an application by the hospital for a declaration to allow their doctors to withdraw life support from a 19 month old child, Alfie. He suffers from a progressive, ultimately fatal neurodegenerative condition, probably a mitochondrial disorder. His epileptic seizures have not been brought under control by anti-convulsant treatment. The evidence before the court was that even if these seizures were to end, his brain is “entirely beyond recovery”. However caused, his neural degeneration is both “catastrophic and untreatable”.’

‘In Razumas v Ministry of Justice [2018] EHWC 215 a prisoner who had made a claim for clinical negligence against the Ministry of Justice, rather than against the specific health care provider, had his claim dismissed.’

‘Struck-off solicitor Phil Shiner has had his bankruptcy extended by five years after he gifted away nearly £500,000 worth of assets to family members before declaring himself bankrupt and was unable to pay £6.5m back to his creditors.’

‘A new self-service website for barristers and chambers to renew their practising certificates, update regulatory information, pay the Bar Representation Fee (BRF), manage subscriptions and applications and to book training, has been jointly launched by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board (BSB).’

‘A five-year-old girl with severe asthma died after being turned away from an appointment with an emergency doctor because she was five minutes late, an inquest has been told.
The coroner said the chance to provide Ellie-May Clark with “potentially life-saving treatment” was missed and she had been let down by failings in the system.’

‘Poor information sharing between agencies meant warning signs were missed in the lead up to the murder of a 19-day-old baby by his mother, a serious case review has found.
Nicola Brown, 43, from Portsmouth, was found guilty of the murder of her son Jake following a trial in 2016. She was ordered to serve life with a minimum of 14-and-a-half years.’

‘A division of troubled lender Provident Financial has been told to pay almost £169m in compensation to customers. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Provident’s Vanquis unit failed to properly disclose charges on one of its popular repayment plans.’